hike4uhike4u is an R package to plot the closest
hiking route near you. It only uses open source data: hiking route data
from OpenStreetMap and basemaps from OpenStreetMap and
Esri. By defining your location through
longitude and latitude, and adding a
buffer size, you can retrieve hiking routes from the local walking
network of OSM. By defining a closeness value, you can plot not
only the closest hiking route to your location, but also the second
closest, third closest, and so on. Your chosen route is ultimately
plotted as an overview map and a satellite map. The first can be used to
orient oneself, the second to see which kind of terrain is covered by
the route. These two maps are exported to your working directory as
png files. The package aims to ease the discovery of hiking
routes close-by, to encourage exploring new areas, as well as to provide
a tool for planning hiking trips.
You can install the released version of hike4u from
GitHub:
This example shows how easy it is to plot the closest hiking route
near you. A simple way to get the coordinates for a location you need is
to use Google Maps. Right-click on the location and copy and paste them
into the hike4u function. A good buffer size to start with
is 10000 meters. Do not choose a buffer size that is too small, as there
might not be any hiking routes in that area. Additionally do not choose
a buffer size that is too large, as the function will take longer to
run, or your device might not be able to handle the request. Set the
closeness value to 1 for the first run of the function. You will receive
a text in the Console, telling you how many hiking routes are available
in your selected buffer area. If you are not satisfied with the result,
you can increase the closeness value to 2, 3, […]. The function will
then plot the second closest hiking route, the third closest hiking
route, and so on.
Example code:
library(hike4u)
# Define you location by long and lat, define a buffer in meters and a closeness value
hike4u(9.93389691622025, 49.79895823510417, 10000, 1)Running the above mentioned example will print the following in your console:
The first map that will be plotted is an overview map of the closest hiking route to your location:
The second map that will be plotted is a satellite map of the closest hiking route to your location:
